The problem is if you live in Uganda or whatever and want to come to the UK (which many people would), then being able to say 'I'm gay, give me asylum', would result in many people claiming this, even if it were not true.

<<are straight people having to prove they are straight in the same way gay asylum seekers are being asked to prove they're gay? >>

Well no, because being straight is not generally considered a reason to claim asylum.

I don't suppose you need to prove you are gay unless its central to your asylum claim.

TBH its pretty difficult to prove many of the things people claim asylum for - unless you are famous and oppressed, or your torturers leave helpful, visible scarring . That's one of the reasons that is not straightforward to have a 'robust, no-nonsense system' that is also fair.

Kinkyfuckery - because some people have to claim asylum because the persecution/death they face in their own country is because they are LGBT.

One of the idiotic rulings they have been using to 'prove' that lesbian asylum seekers are not lesbians, is that they do not possess or use lesbian-pleasing porn - totally overlooking the fact that women don't use as much porn as men, they have come from places where porn is not easily available, and pretty impossible for a woman to get hold of, and that porn is simply not part of the lesbian culture (being underground as it is) in their culture, and above all, that porn usage is not normative or indicative of sexuality in any case.

JoanByers, being homosexual in places like Uganda is such a stigma and such a scary thing to say, even as a joke, that it is incredibly unlikely that hetero Ugandans would claim asylum by pretending to be gay. Not only would they barely dare say it to officials, as to do so in their own country would be signing their death warrant, they would be terrified that the Ugandan community in the UK would find out that this was how they claimed asylum.

Oxfordbags makes an excellent point. At what point does in immigrant community apply their values to other immigrants of the same source by persecution of LGBT or whatever else is taboo? Even though we have our own laws to protect, they only actually work after the event.

OP, I think there are lots of asylum seekers who feel that the odds are so stacked against them that they have to find all sorts of ways to 'prove' their cases to the UKBA. It's the UKBA who say, 'Prove it.'

I think that the fact that there genuinely are gay asylum seeker who desperately need asylum is exactly the reason why those who are exploiting this system should be identified and weeded out.

Complaining that investigating an asylum claim based on the claimant's sexuality 'over emphasises' their sexuality is nonsense.

They say photos and videos are not evidence which is good as these could easily be faked for the purpose as photos of sexuality were faked for divorce cases back in the day when they were needed.

I think the fact is that UKBA will be aware of how the persecution of LGBT people occurs in these countries and will be able to tell a factual account from a made up account largely because of that knowledge. However they're not going to broadcast exactly what it is they're looking for because then false applicants will just give them exactly that when they know what it is.

I'm fairly confident though that if a genuine claimant can give a valid account of the persecution they have face, relationships they've had etc they'll be protected.

what would happen in the case of someone seeking asylum because they had been accused of being LGBT but actually weren't? i'm thinking that however that person is expected to prove they are in danger should be enough for a gay person to prove also.

Bridget, LGBT asylum seekers usually have some difficulty proving they are such, precisely because they have had to keep their emotions and relationships incredibly secret. Some seeking asylum because they are LGBT and face horrors for it in their own country are actually virgins; they just know that they are not safe in their own country to be themselves and do not wish to live a lie.